Delta to start daily flights from Chennai to New York

PTIDec 15, 2004, 08.52pm IST

CHENNAI: US carrier Delta Air Lines on Wednesday said it would introduce daily service between Chennai and New York via Paris beginning May 11, 2005, hoping to capture a sizeable share of passengers from the European carriers.

Delta becomes the only US carrier to offer service from Chennai and service from two cities in India, officials said here.

The daily non-stop service between Chennai and Paris' Charles de Gaulle International Airport, continuing to New York's John F Kennedy Airport, was being introduced after finding that the destination would be "very promising in terms of revenues," Dieter Hofele, general manager (India), Delta Air Lines Inc, told a news conference here.

Delta already operates daily Mumbai-Paris-New York flights, which was first started in 1991. An additional seasonal service currently operates for the winter months from Mumbai to New York via Frankfurt.

The new service will be operated with Boeing 767-300 ER aircraft, featuring 36 seats in its business class and 163 seats in economy class, he said.

Currently, the lucrative Chennai sector is being dominated by European carriers such as Lufthansa. "We should capture a lot of passengers to European markets," he said.

Delta's Chennai departure timings would be 2.30 am to reach Paris at 9.30 am local time, said Rodney D'Cruz, manager-sales, India, Delta Air Lines Inc.

"The new flight gives our customers in India more choices for international travel via two significant gateways - Paris and New York," Hofele said, adding "these cities offer travellers hundreds of convenient connections to destinations across Europe, Africa, Latin America and the U.S."